To the Joists and Back
The Journey of a Kitchen Remodel
After taking an epic trip, a traveller owes their friends and family a few tales from the journey. Recently, my wife and I remodeled a kitchen in our 103-year-old house. Here is our tale.
THE HOME
The journey began when we recently purchased a stately home built in 1920. Having already remodeled an old home earlier in life, I knew exactly what was in store: high heating bills, creaky floors, and remodeling surprises at every turn.
But perhaps it was the home’s timeless elegance that brought on a momentary amnesia. Soon enough, my wife and I held a new set of front door keys in our hands.
THE KITCHEN
Before we even made an offer on the home, we knew the kitchen would need to be completely remodeled. The previous owners had purchased new appliances, but the ceiling was funky, the cabinets old, and the layout left half the space energetically dead and under utilized.
With some assistance from Complete Designs in Wenatchee, we made a plan to remove the existing peninsula that blocked flow with the family room. And we decided to move the stove back between two large windows (where the original wood stove once stood).
THE DEMO
With the help of a patient and skilled contractor, we began the messy process of demolition. Down came the cabinets, down came the plaster walls, down came the sagging plaster ceiling.
We discovered in the ceiling that a brilliant past remodeler had cut two adjacent joists completely in two to make room for a sewer line. That explained the sag. We jacked up the ceiling, sistered the joists with new 2x6 material and pressed on.
On the floor, we encountered drops of nearly an inch in several directions. Such unevenness would have made the application of any new flooring (save vinyl which we didn’t want) next to impossible.
So down we went, through the existing vinyl, through the linoleum, through the original unsalvageable fir, and through the original subfloor to the 2x8 floor joists.
THE REMO
Having taken out everything that could possibly be removed, it was time to begin the actual remodel. We sistered the old joists with new wood, laid down a new subfloor of tongue-and-groove plywood, and installed a new maple floor.
Insulation, sheetrock, and paint followed. Then cabinets and countertops. Then new base and trim. Finally tile backsplash and the electrical trim out.
I write about these steps as if they each were checked off with precision and efficiency. In reality, the actual journey was a slog from start to finish.
Luckily, the home has a mother-in-law unit next to the garage. We used this kitchen during the remodel and carried food back and forth to the main home. This arrangement beat creating a make-shift kitchen in a bedroom, but even so, we quickly tired of carrying of endless trays of food and dishes back and forth.
THE DESTINATION
I am happy to say that for all the rigor of the journey, the destination was worth the pain and expense.
The new space is everything we could have imagined: bright, spacious, functional, inviting. We have created a temple for food creation in which we will worship for decades.
